Local crisis unit in cahoots with more police agencies

Friday

With its 30th anniversary approaching, CAHOOTS is balancing significant growth, national media exposure and interest from law enforcement departments who seek to replicate its unique model.

The summer of 1989 brought with it a bit of a culture shock for police officers patrolling the streets of Eugene.

"Some of us were like, 'We've got these long-haired hippie guys driving around in a van," recalled Ronnie Roberts, who was three years on the force at the time. "They're on our police radios. Something's not right."

It wasn't the warmest of receptions for CAHOOTS, then a first-of-its-kind program that had sworn police officers working alongside social workers rooted in the counterculture to offer help to people in crisis.

Now nearly 30 years later, Roberts, police chief in Olympia, Wash., is close to launching a program that mirrors CAHOOTS in the new year.

And his department isn't alone. Police departments in Denver, New York and even in Great Britain have contacted CAHOOTS with an interest in replicating its model for their communities. The program drew national media attention last month with a story published by the Wall Street Journal.

It's an interest borne out of necessity. More often, police officers are dispatched to calls involving individuals, many living on the streets, dealing with mental illness and in crisis — interactions that can turn deadly. More than 23 percent of individuals killed during interactions with police in 2015 displayed signs of a mental illness, according to one analysis.

While more officers are receiving training to defuse these potentially volatile situations, police departments across the country are recognizing alternative programs such as CAHOOTS can provide a safer and more cost-effective alternative — and deliver better results for individuals in need.

Tim Black, CAHOOT's operations coordinator, said he's surprised that it's taken so long for police departments to recognize the presence of successful alternatives to crisis intervention.

"Because it's becoming easier to have those conversations (about police reform and preventative mental health care), folks are more willing to look at alternatives now than they might have in the past," he said.

Grown out of White Bird

CAHOOTS is a program affiliated with the White Bird Clinic and largely funded by the city of Eugene.

The clinic started in 1970 to provide medical and mental health care to members of the counterculture mistrustful of mainstream medicine.

Initially, patients had to reach out to the clinic through phone consultations or walk-in appointments. But Black said it soon took its services on the road. When extra employees or volunteers were on hand, they'd drive a beat-up station wagon out to people in need; the mobile team became known as the "bummer squad."

The city took notice of the mobile outreach as it renewed its focus on community policing, a strategy to get officers in neighborhoods so they can identify problems that can lead to crime, Black said.

CAHOOTS launched on July 4, 1989. The acronym — which stands for Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets — recognizes the program's relationship with the police department with a dash of tongue-in-check humor.

Roberts, who left the Eugene Police Department in 2007 and became Olympia's top cop four years later, said it didn't take long for officers to warm up to their new cohorts.

"We quickly learned they were taking a huge workload off us, and they were doing great work," he said.

That workload has only grown, as has the program.

CAHOOTS responded to 17 percent of the more than 96,000 calls for service made to Eugene police last year, according to department statistics.

For a department struggling with long response times and not being able to answer many low-priority calls, CAHOOTS has provided invaluable support, Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said.

"By having them as our partner it actually gives us a fairly robust response that otherwise we wouldn't be able to have," he said.

He added: "I can't imagine how challenging it would be without CAHOOTS."

Different by design

CAHOOTS started with one van operating 40 hours a week in Eugene only.

Today, a CAHOOTS van operates 'round-the-clock in Eugene, with two vans providing overlapping service for several hours each day. The Springfield service, which launched in 2015, provides 24/7 coverage.

Its staff has nearly tripled in eight years, from 15 in 2010 to more than 40 this year, Black said.

CAHOOT's annual operating budget also has ballooned to about $1.5 million, a nearly sixfold increase in just eight years. The city of Eugene provided the bulk of the funding, which this year totals about $900,000. A county grant pays for the program's operation in Springfield.

A crisis worker and medic operate each van and they're sent to calls using the same dispatch system that police officers and firefighters rely on. The team can provide medical care, on-scene counseling, transport and referrals to social service providers. They earn $18 an hour, plus benefits, significantly less than an entry-level police officer or firefighter.

The teams respond to individuals passed out on the street, welfare checks called in by worried family members, domestic disputes and residents suffering from an anxiety attack or an adverse reaction to medication or individuals who report "they just feel off and they need somebody to talk to," Black said.

CAHOOTS teams don't wear uniforms and their standard dress is hoodies, jeans and work boots. That is by design, Black said.

"Even if a patrol officer uses the same verbiage, the same posture, and runs a crisis call the same way that a CAHOOTS crisis worker might, just because of the simple fact that they're wearing a law enforcement uniform for some folks who are receiving care that can set up a huge barrier for them opening up," he said.

National interest

Agencies began taking notice of CAHOOTS model four years ago.

That year, a group in Palo Alto, Calif., reached out to the program as it was a developing an app that allowed people to report behavioral problems in the Tenderloin neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, Black said.

But interest has ramped up significantly in the past year.

The program's closest working relationship so far has been with Olympia, which like Eugene is dealing with behavioral problems from a large homeless population that loiters in its downtown.

Roberts said he's been seeking to replicate CAHOOTS model for five years, but the breakthrough came when city voters approved last year a public safety levy that included funding for a crisis response team.

The city is contracting with a organization in neighboring Pierce County to run the new program. The team will initially operate on foot seven days a week, but will move to dispatched vans as the program ramps up, Roberts said.

CAHOOTS visited Olympia to conduct a community assessment and Olympia officials came to Eugene to go on ride-alongs to learn more about the program. This winter, CAHOOTS will return to the capital city to provide field training to the new team.

"They've just done a great job ... to help build the framework for this so we can move forward with success," Olympia's police chief said.

The city of Denver also has contacted Eugene with an interest to launch a similar program. Denver's population is nearly twice as large as Lane County's. A spokesman said via email that police officials "are aware of that program and are evaluating it at this time." He didn't respond to a message seeking more details.

"This is going to be an exercise in how you scale up a CAHOOTS-style response," Black said.

In addition, CAHOOTS is assisting the city of Roseburg, which has secured a grant to start up a mobile crisis unit. The city of Florence also is in the early planning stages of putting together a program. CAHOOTS also has had conversations with several law enforcement agencies in California.

Last month, CAHOOTS team members made a presentation about the program at a trade show for emergency medical responders in Nashville.

Black said the program's growth and nationwide attention hasn't altered its commitment to the local community that prompted its launch almost three decades ago.

"We're still in line with the original philosophies that started White Bird, which is that there's a need and we can do something about it," he said.

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